Prepared art board and it's many uses

[Tim Winstead]

Heyall..just started using some of the pre-lined art board for the first time recently and was curious.....the panels that are provided are not as large as I'd thought and was wondering if it would be a sin against the almighty comic strip god if more that one board be used in the creation of a strip?. I've noticed that though the board comes with border marks that alot for
four panels..It still doesn't seem large enough to do the job. These boards are considered to be the standard in comic strips but, I'm having difficulty in fitting all the art into those panels...any suggestions that would help would be appreciated...Thanx..Tim

[Greg Stephens]

People use all sorts of different size pages for drawing. There's no rules whatsoever.

[Tim Winstead]

Greg..thanx for your reply..I really had no idea that "standards" for comic strip art were so varied..Even though the prepared board that I am trying to use has "guidelines" for it's use with respect to reduction for print...I'm curious..what generally is the size paper you use?. Now that I'm aware of such freedom with my strips..my creativity will definetely reflect that.
thanx, Tim

[gazorenzoku]

If you intend to syndicate your strip, I would check out what the newspapers/magazines recomend, since they will be your customers. Otherwise, there is no real standard that you have to observe. The newspapers/magazines may not have a standard either.... I don't know cause I have never asked..... (but I supspect that they do)

I do not know about comic strips, but in the world of comic books, I have heard this:

1) If you publish yourself, you are only restricted to what the printer can print and what the comic book store owner will put on her shelves.

2) If you work as a freelancer or staff member at a major or even minor comic book company, they usually prefer you to use a standard illustration board. They have reasons for this... One reason I heard is that the printer does not have to worry about alligning each page seperately, since all pages have exactly the same size and are centered in the same way.

vince

[losttoy]

I read a book that Charles Schultz drew his comic strips at 5x5 inches so his total width of four panels would be 20 inches wide. Basicly the final dimensions should probably be in that standard ratio of 4x1 (no matter how many panels you draw). Personaly with the strip I am working on right now, I am drawing each panel at 10 inches square (with four panels being 40 inches wide), scanning each panel in seperately, adding computer color and then resizing it to 2.5 inches square to make a total of it 10 inches wide when I upload it. But I do that because I am using a wide Sharpe and I want to get some detail in. Technicly, your limit is the size of your scanner. But even then you can go to a Kinko's and shrink it down to size on one of their large sized copiers. Frankly, one day I panel to draw a 36x36 panel one day just so I can do it.